Rue's Flight
by tcdietrich
Summary: During the climactic separation of Katniss and Rue in the arena, Rue passes through a time loop into the world of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - where she learns that she is peculiar herself. She makes the decision to stay in the loop forever... but before she can, she must pass back into the arena and ensure Katniss of her safety.


14

14

_Rue's Flight _

_Rue's Flight_

By Theresa C. Dietrich

EDU 265

Dr. John McCracken

_1_

_I'm running. Breathe. Okay. Forward. Don't turn around. Running. Don't die._

Rue sprinted through the thick brush of the forest. Running, running, not turning back. She quickly said a silent prayer - _thank goodness for all the running I used to do back home in District 11_.

A thought shot quickly through her mind as she instantly halted her stride. She snapped her head around and frantically looked at her surroundings. Bent over and breathing hard, her eyes searched for the one friend she'd made since she'd been here.

"Katniss –"

_No. She's strong_, Rue tries to convince herself. _She'll make it out; she promised she would. And I believe in her._

Though they had only last seen each other hours earlier, Rue still worried for her new friend. It was clear that Rue had the easier task – all she had to do was run and light a few fires. She wasn't worried. She was good at those things.

It was Katniss she was worried about. _She's the one that has to actually face the Careers. She's the one that has to find a way to steal their food. She's the one that is actually risking her life._

Rue stepped forward and took a long inward breath. She leaned into a jog toward the clearing where she had agreed to meet Katniss. As she peered around a bend in the trees, she knocked hard into something sharp. Immediately, her body stumbled and flew forward into a rolling stop. She landed with her face in the mud and immediately felt moist heat along the side of her body; she looked down and saw the growing red plume soak her jacket along the zipper. Rue looked around and saw the protruding rock she must have slammed against. A shred of her jacket's material hung stuck to the rock and confirmed her thought.

Rue hoisted herself onto her hands and knees and tried dragging herself to a nearby tree. She leant back against it and let her head roll forward in exhaustion. _Wow_, she audibly sighs. _I have never been so clumsy_.

To calm herself, she let her thoughts wander. Rue liked to remember her life back in District 11 – even though she worked arduous hours in the wheat fields every day, she couldn't get enough of being outside. Though her parents and sisters relished the thought of retiring to their cramped, dark house, it was a rare sight to ever find Rue indoors. Her favorite nights were spent exploring in the dark, finding rocks and leaves and learning their different uses. She loved to bound through the woods, pretending she were a doe or an eagle. She would love to chase birds and mimic their calls. Many times, her father would make her bring her two sisters along with her…how they hated that! Her sister Ariel often called Rue a "stray cat." Rue never liked being at home anyway.

Every night, when it got late, her father would call for Rue in his barbaric, raspy voice. Rue would sprint back with all the speed she could muster. Though her father never found much favor with any of his daughters, Rue liked the nickname her dad gave her better: a hummingbird. Too quick to even see.

The pain from her fall brought Rue's mind back to the arena, far away from her memories. Her head began to throb and she couldn't keep her thoughts in one place anymore. She couldn't drive out the stinging pain from her abdomen.

_Hummingbird. I guess none of that matters anymore_, Rue thought. _I've always been a little hummingbird…Maybe I'll die one, too_. Her eyelids grew heavy and her arms fell limp to her side.

Her mind went blank as she drifted into unconsciousness.

_2_

With her cheek pressed against the cool, rough bark, Rue gradually opened her eyes to brightest sun she had seen in weeks.

Rue woke up in the middle of a wide-open field. _This looks like home_, she thought. _What happened to the forest? What happened to the arena?_

She began to stretch her muscles. She couldn't believe it. _I'm home? No. This isn't real. It can't be_. She had wished to come home hundreds of times since she'd been in the Games, but never thought it would happen. To be honest, she was a little scared to ever come home again.

Rue wiped her tired eyes and twisted her body around to evaluate her surroundings. Balancing herself against the tree, she hoisted herself up to a standing position. _Where am I?_ Rue worriedly asked herself. She stretched her foot out slightly and settled it on the grassy patch in front of her. She allowed herself to take a stride forward. She turned her head with caution and looked behind the tree she had just awoken from.

She found herself standing atop a hill in the middle of a massive stretch of plains. As far as she could see, there were tall grasses and fields brimming with crops. She recognized each plot as the home to corn, soybeans, and wheat. She looked back behind her, and her vision was once again veiled by the sun's blinding rays. She squinted her eyes to see more clearly. Another stretch of land opened up before her. Rows of ripe apple trees with crowded branches skirted the borders of the fields.

Rue continued her line of vision until she saw a series of strange buildings that lay spread out before her. One of the buildings looked vaguely like a barn - but not like the barns Rue was used to seeing all over District 11. No - this barn was...wooden? She couldn't tell. These certainly weren't the same cement holding structures she was used to, and she couldn't seem to find the plow she had seen her dad operate every day. Instead, this barn looked more like the pictures she once saw in history class.

Strangest of all, she saw a group of people gathered together near the farmhouse a few hundred yards away. They were talking. Not working, not hiding, not fearing. _What is going on?_

Out in the distance, Rue could see two figures tromping across the overgrown grass toward her. Because the sun was so bright, she could barely see anything but silhouettes, but Rue thought that it might be a boy and a girl, probably around the same age as Katniss. Rue immediately shrugged back toward the tree in fright.

"Hey! Little girl! Don't worry, we won't hurt you," the boy called out.

Rue couldn't tell what it was that made her immediately trust his words. Maybe she was tired, or maybe she had hit her head too hard. Maybe she couldn't help but remember Katniss's kindness toward her in the arena. Whatever it was, she knew she badly wanted a friend.

As the boy and girl took closer and closer strides to Rue, she could make out their faces. The boy was tall and lean, with work trousers and a forehead shining with sweat. The girl had a thin frame, a muddy dress, and shoulder-length brown hair. With wrinkled brows and concerned looks, they crouched to reach Rue's hiding spot in the crook of the tree.

"You're Rue, aren't you?" said the brown-haired girl. "I'm Emma. This is Jacob. We're so glad you're okay."

Rue opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound. She looked up at the boy Jacob's face and felt like weeping. She reached her hand backward to steady herself against the oak's rough bark and looked frantically between Jacob, Emma, and the fields before her.

"Rue, we have been trying to reach—" Emma began, but Rue didn't hear the rest as everything in her sight began to fade.

_3_

Rue's head began to spin. The sound of rushing air drowned out whatever Emma had been meaning to tell her. All of a sudden, Rue felt an enormous leap in her chest. Her entire body began to feel light, like someone had replaced everything inside her with wind. She looked above her and saw the sky as though each little piece, each little particle, were dancing in unison. She could see each little piece of sky, and without thinking, she began telling them where to go. In a slow, smooth motion, her head peered down across the fields and saw each straw of wheat move together like waves in a sea. Rue opened her mouth again and began orchestrating the motion of the grain.

Looking back up at the sky, near the treetops from the nearby orchard, she saw the outline of a bird, sort of flying, but also sort of stumbling through the air toward Rue's oak tree. It wasn't a big bird, although it looks like it may have been a falcon at some point. But this bird looked tired and lonely. It looked weary.

Rue let out a long, slow breath toward the bird. The wings that had been struggling awkwardly instantly caught the wind. The bird took flight as though there had never been any struggle.

She looked down once more, and noticed that her feet had lifted off the dusty ground, and were now dangling about three feet in the air.

Panicked at her apparent levitation, Rue flipped forward and landed her knees harshly upon the ground.

In a daze, Rue looked up into the faces of her new friends. Her head felt like it was spinning from whatever just happened, but Jacob and Emma looked at each other knowingly… as though they expected something strange to happen.

"…what…?" Rue stammered.

Jacob bent down and looked at Rue's tired face. He held out his hand to grip hers. With a sigh, he looked into her eyes and said, "Rue, don't worry. You're not in the arena anymore. We pulled you out."

_4_

"You pulled me out of the Hunger Games?" Rue was on the verge of crying. She didn't know how to feel… whether to weep or to rejoice. But she kept her gaze fixed on Jacob, knowing that she would melt into a sobbing puddle if she didn't. "But where did you pull me to?"

"You're in a time loop, Rue. You passed through a hole in your reality, and now you're inside ours. Here, on this farm, the date is always June 20th, 2012…over and over again. We live here so that we can always be safe from people who try to hurt us."

"…you pulled me to a farm?" Rue asked with a whimper.

"Yes," said Emma. "We had to. We heard there was another peculiar child in the games."

Rue looked blankly at the girl. "…peculiar child?"

Emma looked toward Jacob and he sat down on the patch of grass beside her. He took a full breath and began:

"Peculiar children, Rue. See all those kids by the farmhouse over there? Those children are what we call 'peculiar.' We needed protection so we built this place – this time loop so that no one would find us and hurt us. And… well, you're not our first rescued tribute."

Emma bent down on her knees and interjected. "Rue, you were pulled here from the Hunger Games because we were told to save you."

Rue's expression remained vacant. "I don't understand."

Emma looked at Jacob. "I think we should just show her."

He nodded, stood up, and held out his hand for Rue to take. She nervously grasped his hand and he gently lifted her to her feet. He continued holding Rue's hand as Emma took three paces backward, as though preparing for a performance. She held her hands at her side, palms up, as though she were preparing to catch the toss of a sack of apples. Slowly, two little flames appeared above her palms. Rue stared incredulously as the tongues of fire gradually grew bigger and more luminous. Were she not exhausted from her fall, Rue would have probably scampered away in fear. Now, she just shrugged into Jacob's side for protection, as a frightened child clings to a mother.

Emma extinguished the fire from her hands and cautiously approached Rue. She held up her hands, palms forward. "See Rue? It doesn't hurt. No harm done at all. I've been able to do this since I was a child… it scared me at first too, but then I learned that I was simply peculiar. Just like Jacob, and just like you."

Rue couldn't believe her ears. _I'm peculiar? Does that mean I have a magic power? Like a fairy?_

Jacob looked down at Rue and gently but firmly gripped her shoulders at an arm's length. "Remember what you did just a few moments ago? We felt it too. That wasn't magic, Rue. That was you. You controlled the breezes through the fields and you helped that bird catch flight. You even carried yourself off the ground! You can move the wind, Rue. You can bend air."

The look on Rue's face gave little evidence that she understood yet, so Jacob and Emma each took one of her hands and led her steadily down the hill toward the farmhouse, and toward the rest of the peculiar children.

_5_

"Everyone, this is Rue. She's our newest tribute. She just came into the loop a few minutes ago, so she's still a little disoriented."

As Jacob introduced Rue to the others, Rue scanned the group. It looked like they totaled between twelve and fifteen children. Her eyes wandered to the fence that backed up to the house and saw the same falcon from earlier perched upon it. The bird's stare bounced between the children and Rue. For a moment, Rue's eyes locked with the bird's, and it was totally weird.

Over the next few hours, Rue learned much about this tribe of exceptionally-abled children. She met Bronwyn, a girl about her own age, but much taller and bigger, who could perform feats of amazing strength. Rue equated Bronwyn to her friend from eleven, Thresh. Although she doubted Thresh had ever been able to lift a horse.

Rue met Enoch, a boy with the ability to breathe life into non-living things. He displayed a set of toy army men he had fashioned from clay and straw – he showed how he took hearts of small rodents and birds to make them march like little human men. She felt scared at Enoch's most peculiar ability, but said nothing and simply widened her eyes in amazement.

Her favorite was Olive, a tiny girl in a pale princess dress who wasn't affected much by gravity. Olive could levitate – she didn't seem to have anything tying her down to the earth. Except rope. Rue liked Olive the best because she was reminded of Ariel back home. Rue's younger sister would probably be watching the television now, guessing that her oldest sister had already perished by the hand of some ruthless Career.

After most of the children's introductions, Rue noticed the small red-haired boy from training day at the back of the group. She could barely stand to keep eye contact, knowing that her goal only hours earlier was to outlive him and his partner. She wondered how the boy had arrived here, and what ability he had. Rue tugged silently on Jacob's sleeve and whispered her question in his ear: "How did he get here?"

Jacob leaned to Rue's eye level and told her that he had also been pulled into the loop for his own protection.

"How is he peculiar?" asked Rue.

"He can communicate with frogs."

The last introduction was the oddest of all. Emma held her arm out toward the falcon, who had continued its perch on the fence nearby. It hopped onto Emma's arm as though it were asked to go there.

"Rue, this is Miss Peregrine. She was – she is our caretaker."

Rue stared at the bird who, from her own experience, did look like a peregrine breed. She looked into the eyes of the bird and tried to see the person within.

"We all used to live in a different loop – inside September 3rd, 1940 in Wales. That was centuries ago. Miss Peregrine built our home in that loop. She had the ability to shift her shape into a bird, but she was attacked at our old home and could never change back into her human form. She's stuck like this until we can figure out a way to change her back."

Rue reached out a loving hand and stroked Miss Peregrine's matted feathers. _I'm sorry this happened to you, _thought Rue_, but you really make a beautiful bird._

The rest of the day was uneventful, although Rue felt more comfortable here than she ever had. Something about the wide-openness of the fields or the kindness of the children made her feel totally at home. Jacob showed her around the orchards and the stables. He made jokes with her and laughed at her reactions.

At the end of her first day in the loop, Jacob and Rue sat against the oak tree and looked at the sky. He put his arm around her and told her stories of his own peculiarity.

"It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life – I was the only one who could see the hollowgasts. Bravery was hard, but I knew I had to protect Emma and the others. I had to protect Miss Peregrine."

Rue knew that Jacob loved Emma, and that they were the closest thing to parents that these children would ever have the hope of knowing. But she could see that Jacob was devoted to providing for the children. With Miss Peregrine's inability to protect them, Jacob had taken on that responsibility. And as she drowsed off to sleep, Rue's last fleeting thought was that her past life in District Eleven didn't feel nearly as loving or safe as this new fantastical and peculiar place.

_6_

The next day, Rue woke up before dawn. She couldn't bear to stay indoors for very long, so she descended the stairs of the farmhouse and tiptoed her way through the wheat fields toward the orchard.

She hadn't tried bending air since her bizarre encounter yesterday, and her curiosity had been tugging at her all night. Rue had no idea how to initiate her strange power, but on this early foggy morning, she planned to learn.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She imagined the small pieces of sky that she saw yesterday. Keeping her breathing heavy and even, she could feel currents of air move along the soft skin of her arms and through her matted curls. She let out an involuntary shiver, but not from the cold. It came instead from feeling the earth heaving and sighing around her. She liked this feeling – this making acquaintances with the earth's breath.

Without thinking, Rue began to run. Her eyes still closed, she felt a tug in her chest that was leading her in the direction of the fields. She was obedient.

As her feet picked up speed, she could feel less and less of her own body weight, and even less of the harsh strike of her feet against the ground. Instead of the usual solid rhythm of running, she felt instead a constant, flowing rush of air propelling her forward and swirling around her as a sort of support. She opened her eyes and saw the span of the farm around her – she was doing it. She was flying.

She had been exploring her peculiarity for two hours when Jacob found her. She had gotten herself onto the roof of the barn and was directing the wind to brush against the fruits each field, as though she were conducting a symphony. He motioned her to come down. Effortlessly, but reluctantly, she leapt off the roof and floated down to the ground as naturally as a descending autumn leaf.

She and Jacob strolled hand in hand toward the farmhouse for breakfast. All evening and all morning, there had been stirring in Rue a feeling of discontent. Though Jacob had explained to Rue that time worked differently in a loop (so Rue hadn't been gone from the arena for more than a few minutes) Rue couldn't shake her worry for Katniss. Any minute now, she should be expecting their signal fires and the Mockingjay's song indicating their safety.

As the days went on, her anxiety only grew. After one week in the loop, a thought entered Rue's mind. She loved it here – there was no denying she belonged with these children and that this sanctuary offered her indefinite protection from harm. She thought of her home in District 11. Her heart immediately sank at the thought of ever returning there. Her parents thought her worthless and her sisters spited her. And of course, if she ever were to return home, that would mean she'd have to become the victor of the Hunger Games. _I never wished to be the victor,_ she thought. Her heart sank even deeper into sadness at the thought of leaving her new refuge.

_So what does that mean for me?_ thought Rue. _Does that mean I want to stay?_ _Would they let me?_ Her face turned up and looked toward Jacob's strong adolescent jaw as a small tear formed along Rue's eyelash.

Jacob looked down at Rue, a steady flow of tears beginning to trickle down her cheek. He gently stopped their pace and knelt down to look at her face. He embraced her and allowed her to weep for a minute. When they pulled away, he looked at her face with a knowing look.

"Rue, we're all hoping you choose to stay."

The tears ran harder down her face. She knew she should be happy at the thought of joining this family of peculiars, but for some reason, her heart still felt burdened.

Jacob took the sleeve of his shirt and wiped away her tears.

"I know you're worried about your friend, Rue. Katniss should know where you are. I think…I think we can find a way for you to tell her."

_7_

The plans were set.

Jacob and Rue brought their idea to the rest of the peculiar children and they all began forming a strategy for Rue to enter the arena once again to inform Katniss of her safety. The stakes were breathtakingly high – but the decision had been made. Rue loved Katniss. She couldn't abandon her.

Rue, Jacob, and the children had all sat in the grass outside the house, discussing the plan of action. It was decided that Rue must go into the arena alone, for obvious reasons. With all the live video cameras, it would be foolish to deliberately reveal themselves in the arena, thus subjecting themselves to the Capitol's reign of terror.

Many ideas had been tossed around for the insurance of Rue's survival once she passed through the loop, though many were immediately discarded. There was a strong possibility that tributes might be near where Rue would enter the arena. She had to be prepared. Though no one wanted to fully address it, the possibility of her death lingered over the conversation like a black cloud. Enoch stayed mostly silent, although he made it clear that his abilities would be at the ready, in case of emergency. A hush fell over the group for a few minutes before continuing their discussion.

Jacob suggested that they be ready to rescue Rue if anything were to go awry. He looked intently in her eyes and said, "If anything happens, make sure we can hear you. We'll be listening at the entrance of the loop. We will find you. Emma, Enoch, and I won't be far behind."

Rue tried to object, knowing that their passage through the loop would almost certainly mean disaster, but Jacob cut her off.

"Rue, you're worth the risk."

Just as it became time for Rue to leave, all her new peculiar friends came to send her off. Bronwyn gave her a firm hug, the pressure surrounding Rue and offering her the strongest comfort she had ever felt. Enoch snuck a kiss on Rue's cheek before she could catch him.

When she came to Emma, she felt a tear streak her cheek again. Emma touched her warm hands to Rue's trembling face and kissed the top of her tangled hair. Then the two girls found themselves in a gentle embrace, their noses sniffling and their chests heaving with the sisterly compassion they had formed for one another in just seven short days.

Jacob stood waiting for Rue at the loop's opening to the arena; his arms spread and waiting for Rue to close the gap between them. She ran to him and jumped into his arms. He held her close to his heart for a few minutes – just holding onto this little girl who needed saving.

"You'll be back in just a short while, Rue. We'll see each other again. I promise."

She clung tight to his shoulders, her face buried in the crook of his neck for a minute. Not saying a word; just soaking up as much love as she could. Though she never had any male siblings, she no longer had to imagine what the protective embrace of an older brother would feel like. She'd carry this memory with her forever.

Eventually, they released each other, and Rue silently and bravely trudged toward the opening near the giant oak tree. Jacob told her earlier that all she had to do was pass behind the tree and she'd find herself back where she was two days ago in the thicket of the forest. She approached the faint disturbance in the air near the back of the tree. With one final look behind her, her trembling lips released the words, "Goodbye Jacob." She took a step forward, and vanished.

_8_

Rue stepped forward into the unknown, her face pointed down toward her feet. As she passed through the loop's threshold, she gasped in wonder at the reappearance of the forest floor under her sneakers.

Slowly, her gaze drifted upward toward the line of trees.

Rue's expression went blank and her eyes settled facing forward as she felt the cruel penetration of the blade in her stomach. Her gaze slowly fell downward toward the spear in her body and sensed that blood was beginning to seep through her clothes.

_This is what they said would happen_, Rue reminded herself. _He said it would... He said it would – _

But the immediate surge of pain and the loss of muscle control caused Rue's mind to go blank and her limp body to collapse into Katniss's waiting arms.

Katniss clung to Rue's body with an iron grip. Rue couldn't grab onto any coherent thoughts for a moment – a moment that seemed to last for hours. Rue's vision went blurry and she could only barely grasp images of Katniss's face. She remembered Jacob's words only hours ago: "Make sure we can hear you."

Rue remembered her conversation with Katniss about the Mockingjays so many days ago. With the last shred of breath inside her, Rue whispered, "Sing?" as Katniss looked down on her with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Katniss looked round, as if searching for the words. _Hurry,_ Rue thought. _Don't let them catch you. They'll come for me. Just sing. Sing…_

As Katniss wearily choked out the first notes of her song, Rue couldn't hold on any longer. Her mind was ready to slip away when a bright light enveloped the forest, and Rue felt all warmth expel from her body. She felt cold. The wind swept across her face once more, and gradually, the image of floating over the wheat fields entered her mind. She was flying again.


End file.
